Football Tactics

 in this article we will talk about the tactical revolution in football through the radical change that depends mainly on playing with 4 center backs.

4-2-4

This formation was a product from Brazil. It was first tested in the Brazilian league and later in the 1958 World Cup which Brazil won. It should be mentioned that the 4-2-4 was not a Brazilian novelty, but the Brazilians had most success with it – they would use it again in the 1970 World Cup with supreme result. One of the features of 2-4-2 and of the Brazil national team was the attacking full-backs.

4-3-3

This modern way of organizing the team was executed by England in the 1966 World Cup as an alternative to their 4-1-3-2. It was the first formation ever without wing forwards.

5-4-1

This formation with five defending players was developed by the famous Inter coach Helenio Herrera. The 5-4-1 system was focused on defense, but also allowed counterattacks.

Both Italian clubs and the Italian national team had success with 5-4-1, including the World Cup silver medal won in 1970.

4-4-2

The 4-4-2 formation was a development of the 4-3-3 utilized by Swedish clubs like IFK Gothenburg and Malmo FF which led to some international successes for these teams. The inventing is otherwise attributed to the Soviet Russian coach Viktor Maslov.

The playing system included factors of collective strategy and with players working over a big part of the field. Many teams around the world use the 4-4-2 formation today and it is especially preferred in British top football.

3-5-2

In contrast to the 4-4-2 formation, 3-5-2 would put more emphasis on individual skills. West Germany won the World Cup in 1990 practicing this formation and it is often used in football of today. It is uncertain when it was first used, some say it materialized when Miroslav Blažević coached Dinamo Zagreb in the middle 1950s.

The positions of the players could be arranged in some different ways, one alternative is with an offensive midfielder behind the forwards as the picture above suggests.

4-2-3-1

The 4-2-3-1 formation is a modification of the 4-4-2 and was first used widely in top-level football in the 2010 World Cup. In front of the four defenders and behind the lonely forward, there are two defensive and three offensive midfielders.

This formation is used by tons of clubs in elite football and is for example the most used system in the Spanish La Liga.

there is no lineup that does not have weaknesses.The formation should for example be based on the opponent and the players the manager has to his disposal.

in the next we gonna take each formation one by one and we will mention the strenghs and weaknesses of each one